


Gardening

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Ephemera Series - Anne Bishop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-06
Updated: 2007-12-06
Packaged: 2018-01-25 06:23:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1636262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Glorianna reflects on her relatonship with Sebastian as she created the Den.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gardening

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy! Happy holidays!
> 
> Written for LadyofBriLeith

 

 

The garden was not like any of the others in the Landscaper's school, but, then, neither was the girl who stood in its center. There were dark corners tucked away among the moss and rocks, not all light and peace like the other students tried to create. Not evil, exactly, Glorianna had decided, just darkness, a difference from what was accepted and normal.

They were surroundings she was comfortable with, and she could not keep a smile and shiver of excitement from coursing through her. This was her first real test as a Landscaper, to find a Landscape that resonated with her heart, anchor it to her garden and make it her own. A simple enough assignment, and one she had every intention of changing ever so slightly.

She had always known she was different, that she had powers and abilities other people just did not. That if she really wanted to, she could do more than merely resonate with Landscapes; she could create them. It was something she had wanted to do for years, ever since the first time she had met her cousin, Sebastian. Closing her eyes, she allowed memories to wash over her, fuel for her determination and resolve as she began to work.

_She could not have been more than five or six, engaged in an elaborate game of make-believe with her little brother, Lee. Dirt caked her fingernails and dress from a day spent running through the yard and scrambling up trees. Giggling, she tagged him and darted away, whirling in a swirl of dark curls and dusty skirts._

The game stopped abruptly as she halted, catching sight of her mother approaching the house with a strange boy her own age clinging to her hand. Even from this distance she could see there was something different about him, just as she could see the strange, hungry expression that had crossed his face at the sound of her laugh.

Grabbing Lee, she hauled him over, giving her mother a questioning look. Up close, the boy was even more curious than she had though. He was ragged and filthy, not in the way they were after a day of play but in a way that suggested to her he did not have a nice clean house to live in or a mother who made him meals and bought him new clothes that fit. There was a scared, skittish look to him, as if he expected an insult or blow at any moment, or, at the very least, rejection by them all.

"Glorianna, Lee, this is your cousin, Sebastian." Nadia's voice was gentle but there was something underneath it that suggested events there were aspects of the situation that upset her. She was angry, not at the boy but for him. "He's going to be staying with us for a while."

Glorianna gave him another thoughtful look, as if making up her mind about her opinion, watching the way he flinched away, waiting for a cutting word. Finishing her scrutiny, she grinned, holding out a hand. "Want to play?"

Manipulating pieces of Ephemera was not as hard as she had thought. It was just a matter of asking, of letting the world know she needed this bit or that fragment. They fit together like pieces of a puzzle, slowly at first but then more easily as she began to get the hang of it.

_That first night, after dinner she had cornered Sebastian in the room they would be sharing. "How come you're staying with us? Don't you have your own home?" Her tone was not scornful, only curious, but he looked ready to bolt anyways._

"No." His voice might be quiet, but there was strength in it. "My father's a wizard, so he's always away. He finds ladies to look after me, but they aren't always very nice."

"My father's a wizard, too." She informed him happily, thrilled to discover they had this in common. "Only he's been gone for days now. My mother went to try to find him today, but I guess she didn't. She found you instead."

"I went to find my father today, too." He told her, beginning to visibly relax. It was replaced by sorrow and hurt a moment later. "He always told me children weren't allowed in Wizard City, but there were boys there my age. He just didn't want me, like everyone else, because I'm an incubastard." There was bitterness in his tone now, something that she could already tell would grow into more dangerous emotions with time.

"I don't know what the means," She told him, adding defiantly, "And I don't care. I _like you."_

She was careful in her selection of Landscape pieces she chose; dark enough for demons to feel at home, but not deadly or evil. A place where they could feel safe, not constantly have to watch their backs. A Landscape made especially for them.

_She was eight years old, and Sebastian's father had come to take him away again. They crouched behind a corner, listening to the argument in the next room. It was the same as it always was; Nadia insisting she could care for Sebastian better than any of those women he hired and Koltak replying that, as a father, it was his right to decide where an how his son lived._

Glancing at her cousin, Glorianna sighed quietly and gave his shoulder a quick squeeze, wishing she could do something more to take that hurt look off of his face.

He understood, and flashed her a grateful smile before his young face turned serious once more. "He just wants me nearby so he can make sure I stay hidden and out of trouble. Its easier to do that if he can keep an eye on me."

"I wish you could stay here all the time." She told him fiercely, as if she could stop everything by force of will alone.

"He won't be able to keep me on a leash forever." Sebastian replied with that stubbornness that could get so annoying sometime but which she knew nothing could change. "Some day I'll get away from him, from all this. For good."

The Landscape was coming together faster now, the final few sections easy to find, as though Ephemera had decided to join her creativity, helpfully picking out places it thought would fit in and make things complete.

_She was ten and Nadia had brought Sebastian back yet again. She did not know how her mother always seemed to know when he needed help, but whatever instincts they were had clearly been right this time._

He could not even walk, he was so beaten and bruised. She did not need to see the angry look in her mother's eyes to know Koltak was responsible. The older his son got, the more carefully the wizard seemed to watch for signs he had been using his incubus powers, and the quicker and harder he reacted to them.

"Glorianna, please get me a bowl of water and a clean towel." Her mother ordered calmly as she moved the half-conscious boy into the room they still shared whenever he stayed with them.

It only took her longer than it should have to find them, and she nearly dropped the bowl twice, her hands shook so much. She had seen Koltak hit his son once or twice, and sometimes Sebastian had old bruises he never wanted to talk to her about, but she'd never seen anything like this. It was hard to understand, sometimes, when she tried to compare Sebastian's life to her own, with her loving family and happy home. It just did not make any sense to her, and she didn't know how she could fix it.

The final touches were all that was left, details and feelings that came from her heart, not the Landscapes she had brought together. Things to make the people who would live here feel at home, make it wild and exciting but still beautiful.

_She was thirteen, and she was supposed to be running to the market to buy some food. Still, Nadia had never said she needed to stay in their own Landscape to do the shopping. There were markets in Wizard City, too._

She had never visited Sebastian in his home, but all she had to do was think about him as she crossed the resonating bridge to reach it. Maybe it was those thoughts that led her so easily through the streets, as if Ephemera understood the desires of her heart and wanted to help answer them. It had been a long time since her cousin had come to stay with them, and she missed him. No one would mind if she just stopped in for a few minutes to say hello.

He had said where he lived was not a nice place, but he had clearly not even told her the half of it. The neighborhoods she found herself in were more than frightening, and she almost turned away. That someone could live in a place like this and still be as good as he was amazed her.

Shouts drew her attention down a dim alleyway and she slipped hesitantly down it, peering into the gloom. A gang of young boys around her age or older surrounded someone, shouting out curses that would have made her blush if she had not been so horrified by the whole situation. The insults were usually followed by blows, but the boy they had cornered seemed to be giving as good as he got. The snarling, fighting stranger was not a Sebastian she recognized. There was something primitive, fierce and powerful about him that would have scared her if she did not know him. For the first time in her entire life, she was able to see the characteristics that made him look more demon than human, to understand why others would hate and fear him.

"Leave him alone." It should have been easy to laugh her off, to hurt her, but she had her own power, too, and it showed in her voice. Sebastian was not the only one who could be dangerous. They stared at her for a long moment, trying to think of what to say to the fierce young girl, but aside from a few smirks and attempted cocky snorts as they parted and stalked past here they were silent.

She stared at Sebastian for a long moment, reading the anger and hurt and watching it fade away. He might be embarrassed that his cousin had shown up and saved him, but he was too proud to say so. "I didn't ever want you to see me like that." He told her finally.

"I was going to say the same thing." It was only half a joke.

She opened her eyes, finished at last with her task and still smiling. People would begin to find their way to this Landscape soon, would settle into the Den of Inequities as if they had lived there their whole lives.

Even demons needed a home.

 

 

 


End file.
